3rd session of 10th SPA of DPRK closes
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- The 3rd session of the 10th Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea that began here on April 4 came to a close today after successful discussions on its agenda items.
A decision of the spa of the DPRK on the first agenda item "on the summing up of the fulfillment of the state budget for Juche 88 (1999) in the DPRK" and an ordinance of the spa of the DPRK "on the state budget for Juche 89 (2000) in the DPRK" were separately adopted with the approval of all the deputies at the session.
Also adopted separately with the approval of all the deputies were ordinances of the SPA of the DPRK "on approving 'on the adoption of the educational law of the DPRK,' a decree of the presidium of the SPA of the DPRK," "on approving 'on the adoption of the law on foreign-related economic arbitration of the DPRK,' a decree of the presidium of the SPA of the DPRK" and "on approving 'on the adoption of the civil aviation law of the DPRK,' a decree of the presidium of the SPA of the DPRK."
At the session a decision of the spa of the DPRK on the third agenda item "on renaming the Ministry of Public Security of the DPRK" (draft) was read out and adopted with the approval of all the deputies.
According to the decision, the SPA of the DPRK has renamed the ministry of public security of the DPRK Ministry of People's Security in order to glorify the undying exploits made by the President Kim Il Sung by founding and leading a genuine people's security body and to enhance the function and role of the public security organ in conformity with the requirements for the building of a powerful socialist nation.
A decision of the spa of the DPRK on the fourth agenda item "on ratifying the treaty signed between the DPRK and the Russian Federation" (draft) was read out and adopted with the approval of all the deputies at the session.
Credentials from Chinese ambassador
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- Kim Yong Nam, President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, received credentials from Wang Guozhang, newly appointed Ambassador E.P. of the People's Republic of China to the DPRK, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today.
Present there was vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK Pak Kil Yon.
After receiving credentials, Kim Yong Nam conversed with the ambassador.
Speech of DPRK delegate at UN commission on human rights
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- The DPRK delegate made a speech at the 56th session of the UN commission on human rights held in Geneva on March 29.
The vital issue in the field of human rights is to stop grave violation of human rights including infringement on sovereignty by power politics and arbitrariness, he stressed, and went on:
Some forces, talking about "universality," now openly insist that there should be intervention even across border for the sake of "human rights" and even the principle of respect for national sovereignty be revised.
Their allegation is based on a political purpose to bring small and independent countries to their knees by strength and strong arm under the cloak of "protection of human rights."
If such action is continuously allowed, the world will turn into a lawless land of wars and disputes, big or small, and small and weak nations, victims, will undergo baptism of fire.
National sovereignty is the life and soul of a country and a nation and human rights are unthinkable apart from it.
The DPRK government has steadily developed the policy of protecting human rights, regarding human rights as inviolable rights.
The DPRK will respect the international covenants on human rights and cooperate with international human rights organizations on the principle of respect for sovereignty and mutual trust and cooperation and fulfil its duty.
Agrarian reform
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- After the liberation of Korea from the Japanese colonial rule in August Juche 34 (1945) the Worker's Party of Korea made the agrarian reform, a top priority for the building of a new society.
In those days nearly 80 percent of the population were peasants in Korea. The peasants had centuries-old desire to do farming in their own fields.
The agrarian reform was a prerequisite to freeing the peasants from feudal exploitation, rapidly developing agricultural productive forces and achieving prosperity of national industries and the national economy as a whole.
The agrarian reform was urgently required to do away with the economic foundation of the reactionary forces, including landlords in rural villages and powerfully rouse the peasants, the driving force of the revolution, to the building of new Korea.
That was why the President Kim Il Sung put forward the slogan "land to the tillers " and a unique policy of agrarian reform.
The policy was aimed at enforcing the agrarian reform on the principle of confiscation without compensation and distribution without charge and confiscating the land of the Japanese , pro-Japanese elements and traitors to the nation, the land of landlords who had more than five hectares of fields and the land rented out to others.
The WPK worked hard for the successful agrarian reform, true to the class policy of relying on the poor and hired peasants, isolating the rich peasants by allying with the middle peasants and liquidating the landlords.
The 5th enlarged meeting of the executive committee of the central organizing committee of the Communist Party of North Korea that was convened on March 4, 1946, adopted a decision on the enforcement of the agrarian reform. The law on agrarian reform was promulgated on March 5.
The WPK saw to it that more than 11,500 rural committees involving the poor and hired peasants were formed in North Korea, so that the reform was the concern of peasants.
It also dispatched teams to rural villages to support the reform. It mobilized all the political parties and public organisations to the struggle for successful agrarian reform. As a result, more than three million people of the New Democratic Party, the Democratic Party, trade union, the Democratic Youth League and women's union helped enforce the reform.
The historic task of the agrarian reform was carried out in a matter of some 20 days.
Great political program for great national unity
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- Rodong Sinmun today dedicates a signed article to the 7th anniversary of the publication of the President Kim Il Sung's famous work "10-Point Program of the Great Unity of the Whole Nation for the Reunification of the Country."
The President put forward the program, the library of great national unity on April 6, Juche 82 (1993) reflecting the desire and demand of the Korean people for reunification that grew stronger at the beginning of the 1990s than ever before.
The article says:
The program gives a perfectly logical and principled explanation of all the matters arising in achieving the unity of the whole nation for the founding of a unified state, independent, peaceful and neutral. It is a political charter and an undying great programme for great national unity for reunifying the country in reliance upon the efforts of the nation.
The program was one more undying exploit he performed on behalf of the country, the nation, history and the times.
All the people in the north and south of Korea and abroad should turn out as one in a patriotic struggle for national reconciliation and unity and the reunification of the country under the banner of the program.
Implementation of the five-point policy of great national unity laid down by the Kim Jong Il is of weighty importance in achieving the great unity of the Korean nation. The policy is very instrumental in putting into practice the President's idea of great national unity and the programme.
The Korean people should get united on the principle of national independence, the basis of the great unity of the whole nation. Only then is it possible to defend the rights and interests of the nation and shape the destiny of the nation independently in keeping with the will and requirements of the nation.
They should achieve a firm unity for the country, the nation and reunification, transcending the interests of the classes and social strata irrespective of the differences in ideology, system, political view and religious belief under the banner of patriotism and national reunification.
They should also wage a vigorous struggle against outsiders, the main obstacle to national unity and reunification, and traitors following them.
For great national unity it is of weighty importance for the whole nation to make mutual visits and contacts, develop dialogue and strengthen solidarity.
A firm will for national unity and national reunification makes it possible to achieve great national unity in defiance of any fascist suppression and obstruction.
Minju Joson today runs a by-lined article on this occasion.
Future basketball players produced
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- Kang Pan Sok senior middle school no. 1 in Pyongyang leads all other schools of the country in basketball group performance. It has never relinquished the lead in national senior middle school male basketball games in the past years.
It won 16 trophies and some 300 medals in various tournaments. Those selected from the group have been taken on by national, first-class and university teams.
In the school, physical education and sports including basketball are encouraged and made an everyday activity of students. In the meantime, a basketball group formed by those with good physical fitness and great ability is functioning.
The group is under the coach of Yun Sol Hwa, people's teacher and merited athlete.
She took an interest in basketball in her girlhood and was active in the national team. After marriage she has been working as a coach at senior meddle school basketball groups. Far over 50 now, she is still full of vigor of youth and strives to pass on her skill to the students.
She is exact in her demands in training, but affectionate in her daily life. She works out a special schedule for every player, with emphasis on improving stamina and other physical attributes essential to basketball.
All this has helped the team members improve their skills quickly and develop a better teamwork.
Heaven day ceremony in Korea
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- A heaven day ceremony was held in Pyongyang yesterday to mark the 140th anniversary of the foundation of Chondoism.
Chairperson Ryu Mi Yong of the Korean Chondoist Church Central Guidance Committee said in a report that Chondoism, which was founded in the idea of opposing feudalism and outside forces 140 years ago, has covered a patriotic road, holding high the slogan of "Rejection of the West and Japan" and "Promotion of national interests and welfare of the people."
She continued:
Through history and experiences the Chondoists have firmly been convinced that only when the whole nation achieves a single-hearted unity, holding the President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the leaders of the nation, can it realize the age-old desire for an earthly paradise.
All the Chondoists in the north, south and abroad should rise up as one in the movement for national reunification under the leadership of Kim Jong Il and make this year a year of opening a turning phase of national reunification.
U.S. and S. Korea urged to observe "order of navigating to and from five islands"
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- The central committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea issued a statement yesterday, assailing the U.S. and the South Korean ruling quarters for challenging the "order of navigating to and from five islands" at the West Sea of Korea proclaimed by the navy command of the Korean People's Army as an important measure.
The statement bitterly denounced the imprudent moves of the U.S. and the South Korean ruling quarters as a vicious challenge to the magnanimous and sincere efforts of the DPRK to remove the source of armed conflict at the west sea, ensure peace and security of the country and promote the convenience of the islanders in life.
The five islands are clearly inside our territorial waters, the statement said, and continued:
The U.S. and the South Korean ruling quarters have no justification to say this or that about the "order of navigating to and from five islands" and they have an obligation to observe it strictly.
If they run amok, negating our self-defensive measure, our workers and revolutionary armed forces will never pardon it but mete out severe punishment to the aggressors and provokers, the statement warned.
KCNA blasts rubbish of S. Korean "ambassador" to Russia
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- The South Korean "ambassador" to Russia in an interview with a Russian paper Rosinskaya Gazeta shamelessly justified the sinister aim of the "sunshine policy", letting loose a string of rubbish about the issue of Korea's reunification and the issue of the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, according to the paper on March 30.
It is a well-known fact that the "sunshine policy" on the lips of the South Korean authorities is a policy of confrontation and war full of rhetoric. This is evidenced by their ceaseless war exercises and arms buildup against the north.
We have consistently held that the South Korean authorities should not give lip-service to "cooperation" and "reconciliation" but make a switchover in their policy toward reunification and show their willingness to improve relations with the north in practice.
Their mere talk about "cooperation" and "reconciliation" is an empty talk and it cannot be construed otherwise than a window-dressing to conceal their anti-north confrontation policy.
In the interview the "ambassador" went the length of talking such gibberish that 8 to 9 million "divided families" in South Korea look forward to meeting with their relatives in the north but do not pin any hope on reunification as it is unrealistic.
This is an unpardonable insult to the aspirations of the Korean nation for reunification and clearly proves that the South Korean authorities' loudmouthed "settlement of the issue of divided families" is not aimed at reunification but seeks a sinister separatist aim.
The "ambassador" did not bother to talk nonsense that the U.S. troops in South Korea, the root cause of all misfortune and sufferings of the Korean nation, are "playing an important role in preserving peace" on the Korean peninsula.
If the South Korean authorities have even an iota of national conscience and human dignity, they should stop orchestrating such balls intended to insult the nation's desire for reunification and justify their dependence on outside forces as what the "ambassador" to Russia said in a foreign country.
Symposium on promotion of normalization of Japan-Korea relations
Tokyo, April 4 (KNS-KCNA) -- A symposium on promotion of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the DPRK was held in Tokyo on April 1 under the co-sponsorship of the Japan-Korea Society for Scientific and Educational Exchange, the Liaison Council of the Societies for the Study of the Juche Idea of Japanese Teachers, the Japan Committee for Supporting the Independent and Peaceful Reunification of Korea and the Japan-Korea Cultural Interchange Association.
The symposium was addressed by Motofumi Makieta, chairman of the Japan Committee for Supporting the Independent and Peaceful Reunification of Korea, and by the head of a delegation of the Korean Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.
At the symposium professor of Chuo University Narihiko Ito and editor of "Japan and South Korea analysis" Hirogazu Kitakawa gave lectures on the subject of "for success of Japan-Korea talks" and "Japan-Korea relations after the suspension of negotiations on normalizing Japan-Korea diplomatic relations. What is the factor of impeding negotiations?"
They said that Japan's liquidation of the past and compensation should be concentrically discussed at the ninth full-dress talks between the governments of Japan and the DPRK.
They proved with historical facts that the "Korea-Japan annexation treaty" is null and void and noted that the correct cognition of history, apology and compensation are the starting point of friendship between Japan and the DPRK.
The suspension of the full-dress talks was due to the wrong policy of the Japanese government which evaded the liquidation of the past and sought to enact an "emergency legislation," they said, adding:
The starting point of independent diplomacy is to get rid of U.S.-toeing diplomacy.
Symposium on Kim Jong Il's army-first politics held in Russia
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- Representatives of Russian political parties and organizations held a symposium on the outstanding army-first politics of the great leader Marshal Kim Jong Il in St. Pertersburg on March 29.
The first secretary of the central committee of the Russian Communist Worker's Party made a statement which was followed by speeches of representatives of different political parties and organizations.
The speakers said the unique army-first politics of Kim Jong Il, a peculiar political mode of pushing ahead with socialist construction as a whole with the army as the main force of revolution, is most correctly reflecting the realistic requirements of the developing revolution.
Under his experienced leadership, the Korean people will smash the U.S. and other imperialists' pressure and blockade and achieve a great goal of building a powerful nation they said.
They expressed support and solidarity with the Korean people's struggle for socialist construction and the independent and peaceful reunification of the country.
A letter to Kim Jong Il was adopted at the symposium.
Preparatory committees for commemorating Sun's Day formed
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- A national preparatory committee of Guinea was formed in Conakry on March 14 to commemorate Sun's Day.
The chairman of the National Information Committee of Guinea was elected chairman of the preparatory committee at an inaugural meeting.
The meeting set a month from march 15 to April 15 for commemoration and decided to hold various functions in this period.
Meanwhile, a preparatory committee for commemorating Sun's Day was formed by the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Group for the Study of the Juche Idea on March 26.
Armenia-DPRK cooperation association formed
Pyongyang, April 6 (KCNA) -- Armenian Association for Cultural Relations and Cooperation with the DPRK was formed on March 16.